Race to take advantage of new openness from Taiwan

On April 30 2009, after decades of intense political enmity, a major milestone was achieved with the lifting of a decades-old ban on Chinese investment in Taiwan. For the first time in 60 years, mainland institutional investors are allowed to invest in the securities markets in Taiwan. It is only the first step in a wide-ranging financial cooperation programme that Taiwan launched with Mainland China. In June of 2009, Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) further allowed mainlanders, whether individual or institutional, to make direct investments in Taiwan such as setting up a corporate. Prior to the milestone, cross-strait investments predominantly involved Taiwan-based firms moving to, or collaborating in joint ventures in, Mainland China. Now, the race to take advantage of the new openness from Taiwan has started.